C-Suite Readiness
Getting better at your job won't get you the C-Suite job
You can be the strongest leader in your function and still not get the C-suite job. The people deciding are judging how you lead across the business. Most strong leaders never work on that, because nobody tells them it matters.
The belief that keeps strong leaders busy
Most strong leaders believe the more they master their function, the readier they look for the C-suite. Know more of the detail, solve more of it yourself, and they'll see you're ready.
So they take on the hard problems themselves. They review every deck. They put in long weeks proving they're the best in the room. Their team brings them problems instead of recommendations, and slowly they become the bottleneck.
Then they wait. They keep delivering in the hope that someone senior will tell them when they're ready and what to work on. Being "on the list" feels like being prepared.
Here is the truth. The C-suite is judging how you lead across the business. Your function is only one part of that. Your peers and direct reports already see a different list of development areas than the one you're working on, and nobody tells you.
A senior leader I coached put it better than I could: "There is a gap between what I think I need to develop and what my peers and direct reports see as my development areas."
Not seeing their list keeps you stuck, because you spend years closing a gap nobody is measuring. The real gap stays hidden until the role goes to someone who sat in fewer execution meetings and more strategic conversations, and everyone knew why except you.
Ask a different question
Stop asking, "How do I get better at my job?" Start asking, "What do the people around me see that I don't?"
Readiness for the C-suite comes from how you think and lead across the business. You can't see that gap from inside your own function.
The people at the top say the same. In 2025, Heidrick & Struggles surveyed 522 CEOs and board members across 13 markets. Two thirds said leading across organizational boundaries is foundational to their strategic goals. (Heidrick & Struggles, 2025)
Their 2026 research on functional leaders moving into enterprise roles puts it in one line: "Strong functional execution is necessary, but it is no longer sufficient." (Heidrick & Struggles, 2026)
My first executive strategy meeting at PepsiCo
I learned this the hard way. When I walked into my first executive strategy meeting as CIO for MENA at PepsiCo, I was ready to talk about systems, projects and how technology supported the business. That is what had made me successful as a business solutions director.
Nobody was talking about systems. The executive team was talking about where the market was heading and what the business needed to look like in the years ahead. I had very little to add beyond my own area.
So I started looking outside. I built a network of peers in other companies. I read industry newsletters. I learned from vendors what they were seeing elsewhere. Then I brought it back to my peers on the executive team.
Within months, they were coming to me to ask what I was seeing out there. I had moved from the person who ran the systems to someone they wanted in the strategic conversation.
The gap I needed to close was seeing the business from outside my own function, and nobody was going to point it out.
What to do about it
When I work with leaders on this, we use three steps: Assess, Reframe, Calibrate.
Assess
Measure the gap before you plan the fix. Get a structured read on where you stand today, because otherwise you're guessing.
Reframe
Look outside your function every week. Build a network of peers in other companies and read what's shaping your industry, because enterprise conversations start with where the market is heading.
Hand back one problem your team brings you. Ask for their recommendation before you give yours, because a team that can't run without you tells evaluators you can't scale.
Calibrate
Ask five people one question: "If I moved into the C-suite tomorrow, what would you worry about first?" Take three peers from other functions and two direct reports, because their answer is what the C-suite will hear.
Bring what you learn to your executive peers. Share what you're seeing outside the business before you're asked, because that is how you join the strategic conversation.
Three objections I hear
"Asking for feedback will look like I'm campaigning for the role." Asking what you could do better reads as maturity. The leaders who get passed over are the ones who never asked and never knew.
"My expertise got me here. Are you telling me to drop it?" No. Keep it. It's why people trust you. The shift is adding enterprise judgment on top, so your expertise supports your leadership instead of defining it.
"I don't have time. My weeks are already long." The long weeks are part of the problem. Every deck you stop reviewing and every problem your team starts owning frees hours for the work that gets noticed.
Where this leaves you
Being excellent in your function got you onto the list. It won't get you off it and into the role. The C-suite is watching how you lead beyond your function. Your peers and direct reports can already see the gap, and the only way to close it is to find out what they see.
Start with Assess.
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